Arsenal v Newcastle – Round One.

Morning all.

What a week ahead for Arsenal. The first of a two-legged semi-final in the League Cup against Newcastle Utd tonight, then on Sunday we face Man Utd in the FA Cup and then a week today we face Totts in the second north London derby of the season. It’s football every three days for Mikel Arteta’s players until the international break in February. Nine fixtures crammed into twenty eight days. Although should by chance we progress through to the next round of the FA Cup, our next fixture in that competition would be on the 8th February, just a few days after we would have either made it into the League Cup final or not.

Having such a small squad won’t help our cause over the next five months, especially as so many are injured right now. Thankfully, Ben White could be back before the end of January, as might Takehiro Tomiyasu as long as neither suffer any setbacks.

Bruno Guimaraes and Fabian Schar are suspended tonight. Callum Wilson, Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles and Nick Pope are expected to remain on the sidelines through injury. Newcastle have quietly but confidently climbed to fifth in the Premier League having won five matches in a row including victories over Totts and Manchester Utd on their travels, something which seems to have the media excited about. However, in the next breath they’ll be telling us, or writing about, just how bad the two clubs are right( now. A fickle lot eh..

Mikel Arteta didn’t really say much in his pre-match press conference other than Ethan Nwaneri will be out for a few weeks, Kai Havertz could return tonight and Raheem Sterling should be back soon. The transfer tale was the same as always, as a club we’re ready…

When asked about having to be reactive in the January window and lowering our expectations:

Hopefully not because we set very high standards and we really want to only have players here that are coming from our academy or we have to sign players to really elevate and impact the team, otherwise just bringing in bodies doesn’t help us.

With Jurrien Timber returning after serving his one match suspension and all three of Kieran Tierney, Riccardo Calafiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly fit, at least Thomas Partey won’t be required in defence.

How much Mikel Arteta rotates his players for this game is anyone’s guess but id imagine he’ll make changes to the side which drew against Brighton at the weekend. If Havertz is fit, I suspect he’ll start although there is no sign of him in the training photos. Oleksandr Zinchenko is surely an option for tonight, perhaps Jakub Kiwior and Marquinhos who has now been added to the senior squad. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if he suddenly made a name for himself in the team? It’s highly likely that one or two of the academy players will be on the bench too.

Newcastle are going to be a tough side to beat and with a lower league opponent this weekend, Howe is unlikely to rest players tonight. They will be physically strong and will no doubt try to break our play up any which way they can. Fine, we’re known to play that way too so can’t complain but I hope the officials are on the ball. VAR will be live tonight, with the fans hearing how and why they come up with the decisions they do. Perhaps that will focus their minds to make better decisions.

Lastly, Mikel Arteta said:

A semi-final, an opportunity to earn the right to be in a final and that starts tomorrow with two legs. Obviously they’re going to be two long games against a very competitive team, we know that, but very excited and we need a big, big atmosphere in our stadium. I admire the Emirates the most – 100%. The way we can feel at the Emirates with our people is incredible and I’m very positive that tomorrow we’re going to create a big one against really good opposition in the semi-final of the cup that we want to win, so let’s go for it.

I hope his players do go for it…

Catch up in the comments.